Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

Kaguya nodded gently, speaking as she slowly sat down, placing her feet on the ramp of the passageway. She then subconsciously pressed down on her skirt to avoid exposing herself. Next, Takami sat down beside her. After exchanging a glance, they simultaneously moved forward and began to slide quickly down the passageway.

呲——

The sensation of his buttocks sliding continuously in the passage reminded Gao Hai of the feeling of riding a slide when he was a child.

To maintain balance and prevent being separated, Kaguya kept holding onto Takami's arm and carefully observed the surroundings.

The scruffy kitten stayed far away at the edge of the flashlight beam, lying on its side on the ground, and rolled along the passageway.

Gao Hai looked around and noticed that there were track-like structures on both sides of the passage, as well as pulleys and ropes. It seemed that the passage they had slid down was likely a cargo passage within a military base. He wondered what the people who built this base were thinking, constructing such an abstract passageway within its walls.

Soon, the end of the passage came into view.

A thing that looked like a mine cart was blocking the way, and it seemed to contain some small boxes, but it was unclear what they were for.

The scruffy kitten at the very front jumped up as it approached the transport vehicle and easily leaped over it.

Takahashi and Kaguya followed suit and jumped, but because the passageway was quite low, it was difficult to adjust their posture. Takahashi quickly kicked the wall on one side of the passageway in mid-air and then changed his posture, barely managing to clear the passageway together. Takahashi rolled a few times after landing before regaining his balance, while Kaguya, caught off guard, landed on the ground in a duck-like position, but she wasn't hurt; only the edge of her school uniform skirt was slightly torn.

"Hmm, there's definitely something wrong with the spatial structure of this place. How could a normal military base have such a strange design?"

Brushing the dust off her clothes, Kaguya stood up and said with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Who knows, anything is possible for pioneering players. Hmm, the smell here seems a bit unusual."

Gao Hai keenly noticed that Kaguya had inadvertently shown him her black panties while sitting in a duck-like position, but he never cared about such things, so he didn't pay special attention to the lace pattern on the edges or the wing embroidery in the center. He just kept talking while scanning the surroundings with his flashlight, carefully observing the situation.

Then, before he could see anything of interest, he first smelled a faint, slightly stale odor.

Meow~ It's just ahead, meow~

Little Meow's voice guided us at that moment.

Following the sound, the two walked forward and, after passing through some dilapidated things whose purpose was unclear, finally saw a new light.

There were flickering lights that looked like they had been running for a long time, broken experimental equipment, overturned large pieces of equipment, corpses lying on the ground rotting down to their bones, and the neon sign for "B11" clearly visible on the wall.

The bodies had clearly been moved and piled up in a corner of the room. The broken experimental equipment also showed obvious signs of having been cleaned, with all the glass shards concentrated on one side of the room.

Despite being a place that had clearly been abandoned for a long time, there was hardly any dust, only a faint stench and musty smell.

No, this place has not been abandoned.

There are traces of someone's life here, someone who discovered this place and turned it into their secret base, keeping company with those skeletons here for a long time.

Gao Hai walked to one side of the room, to a table that had been tidied up and was filled with various books and stationery.

The scruffy kitten named Miaonai sat on one side of the table, its tail swaying slowly and gently, waiting for Gao Hai to come forward.

Gao Hai could vaguely see a boy sitting at the table, with the kitten guarding him. In this dark underground space, in this eerie and terrifying place with black, dried bloodstains on the walls and floor, the boy and the kitten silently huddled together, neither of them showing the slightest fear.

I looked down at the few sheets of homework papers pressed under the glass on the table, and then at the beginning of the text on one of the papers.

[Log Record]

[Recorded by: Explorer Koji]

Chapter 102: A Young Explorer and His Pursuers Return

I discovered a secret base today.

[After the earthquake a few months ago, there were some collapses on Yelu Mountain. The teachers specifically emphasized several times that we should not go up the mountain, but the time after school was just too unbearable, and I had no interest in going home early to face that bastard, so I sneaked up here. I didn't expect to find this place.]

This looks like a military base; it's quite large, with some areas still having power while others are without it. There's been considerable damage, likely due to the earthquake, but overall there's still a lot to explore.

"Speaking of which, something terrible seems to have happened here. I found many corpses. Although these bodies were all rotten to the bone, the broken and fragmented bones clearly didn't look like those of people who died of natural causes. I don't know what happened. Was there some internal strife? Or was there an enemy attack from the outside? It couldn't possibly be that some monster emerged from this base and killed them all, could it?"

In short, there are still quite a few places in this area worth investigating and exploring. I never imagined that one day I would actually become an explorer.

However, for now, let's clear out a forward base first. We'll use this place as a starting point to gradually uncover the true nature of this mysterious base. At least that's much better than letting it rot away at school and home.

Hmm, let me think. At least I'll clear out a set of table and chairs for my own use first. I won't insist on anything else for now.

As for these corpses, well, just pile them up somewhere. So many years have passed, I doubt anyone remembers them anymore. Maybe I can even choose this place when I die. It sounds pretty good, like an explorer dying where he discovers the first secret, haha.

The boy's handwriting on the paper under the glass wasn't exactly neat, but it was still legible enough to read.

The next few sheets of paper also contained very simple information, all about how the boy, who called himself "Explorer Koji," cleaned up various debris in several nearby rooms and how he moved all the corpses into one room and piled them up.

During his exploration, he found an empty room where he discovered a seemingly high-tech identification card and a handgun. Using the card, the young explorer successfully unlocked more areas of the base, gradually deepening his understanding of the place.

Clearly, this boy is no ordinary person. Despite being only a high school student, he spent several days exploring alone in a cold, dark military base littered with corpses and fraught with the risk of collapse. He could even move the corpses around without any restraint. Perhaps this is what it means to be a born protagonist. At least Gao Hai knew that he probably couldn't have done such a thing before entering the [Sacrifice Game].

Furthermore, although this young explorer was incredibly daring, he was actually quite cautious during his explorations. In areas completely dark with no light source whatsoever, he would at most try to illuminate those places with a flashlight for a general observation, never actually venturing deep into them. According to the investigation records Gao Hai obtained regarding the Yelu Mountain Middle School area, danger did indeed lurk in the dark areas of the underground military base; conversely, areas with lights were safe and suitable for resting.

Did they escape danger by instinctively seeking advantage and avoiding harm?

Thinking this, Gao Hai continued reading the documents and discovered that this young explorer actually knew a bit about electrical wiring repair and mechanical modification. He didn't know where the boy got his tools, but the boy repaired some damaged wiring and replaced broken light bulbs, gradually restoring the lighting in parts of the base and thus creating a safe zone.

During this process, he discovered that the power source for this base was actually the Yelu Mountain Middle School area. The school's circuit and the circuit of this underground base were connected, but no one had ever discovered this before.

This undoubtedly piqued the boy's curiosity even more, but the young explorer didn't achieve much in his further investigation. The various documents within the base were inexplicably mostly destroyed, yielding little valuable information. However, he discovered an incomplete underground runway, seemingly intended for small aircraft. He then found numerous firearms and ammunition, and even dozens of bombs intended for bombers were stored within the base.

It was here that subtle changes in the boy's mindset became apparent in his records.

If I took these guns back to school and home, maybe I could kill all those bastards. I could take down all those scoundrels who only know how to bully and torture others, one by one.

[As long as the guns are hidden properly afterward, no one should find out. After all, these are wartime items; who would suspect that a military base is hidden inside Nightfall Mountain? As long as no one speaks out, they definitely won't be discovered, absolutely.]

[If I do this, then I can get rid of... No, if I do this, what will the teacher think of me? At least, I shouldn't let the teacher down again, let down the last person who is still willing to be kind to me...]

The boy's changing mindset is clearly revealed in every word and sentence.

But then, there was nothing more. Perhaps feeling that his records were somewhat inappropriate, after writing on the last page, "I will seek new paths, seek what I can do, and seek change," the explorer never returned to the room, and no further records exist after that.

So, where did he go after that, and what choices did he make?

Gao Hai felt that the timeline of the notes left on this table was quite far removed from when Morihara Koji actually blew up the school. At that time, although he had many negative and extreme aspects, his overall thoughts and personality were still relatively healthy, and he hadn't completely gone astray. Something must have happened later that dealt this boy a huge blow, leading him to ultimately commit the extreme act of taking the entire school's teachers and students down with him.

So where did he go next?

Thinking of this, Gao Hai turned his head and found that the kitten that had been sitting next to the table was nowhere to be seen.

Meow~

The sound of a kitten meowing could be heard in the hallway outside the room.

Takahashi and Kaguya exchanged a glance, confirming that neither of them had noticed when the kitten left the room. After carefully observing their surroundings to make sure nothing had changed in the room, they cautiously stepped out of the room and looked in the direction where the kitten had been.

Meow~ My owner is just ahead, meow~

The little cat, calling out like that, turned and ran off quickly, disappearing into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

Then, the lights in the pitch-black corridor suddenly came on, and something seemed to flash by in the shadows and disappear without a trace.

Was that kitten guiding me and Kaguya step by step to discover more clues?

With that thought in mind, Gao Hai took a step, and then the expression on his face changed.

Something else has come in.

A third person, besides him and Kaguya, entered the underground base and immediately located Takami's position upon entering.

No, that thing had already locked onto him even before that.

"Things won't be that easy after all. If we have to split up, we must stick close to that kitten and make sure we don't have too many distracting thoughts."

As Gao Hai earnestly gave Kaguya his instructions, he glanced behind him at a dark corner of a corridor.

Although he couldn't see the other person in sight yet, Gao Hai already knew they were coming. Just as the other person had locked onto him, he could now also confirm their location and the distance between them.

Kita Ikuyo.

Although she was fooled for a while by changing her identity information by writing her name on the teacher's certificate, the core obsession attached to her was, after all, a Red Moon level. This level of stagnation could only last for a short time and could not be delayed for too long.

In short, another beautiful girl is coming to kill me.

Gao Hai, who had come to this conclusion in his heart, felt a little conflicted when he said "again".

Chapter 103: The Unexpected Attack and the Outcome of the Players' Confrontation

Gao Hai stepped into another corridor lit by a stark white light.

He could sense that the strange creature that had locked onto him was gradually approaching, walking towards him step by step.

The already chilly air around us seemed to be getting colder, as if it were about to turn this underground base into an ice cave.

tread--

As they continued walking, the distance between them kept closing.

Takami could already faintly hear Kita Ikuyo's voice, hearing her calling him from afar.

[Teacher Gao...Teacher Gao Hai...Teacher Hai...]

Although it was so faint as to be almost a hallucination, it was definitely the girl's voice.

However, this title...

Why did she call me "teacher"?

Was it because I wrote my own name in that booklet that I established a connection with that strange creature?

With each breath, I could feel the stinging sensation from the cold air in my lungs.

Teacher... Teacher... Where are you...?

The lights ahead in the passageway, which had been bright, began to flicker slightly.

There were faint footsteps approaching, one step at a time.

Gao Hai squinted. He could see a petite figure with long red hair standing in the passageway as the lights flickered. But as the lights flickered again, the figure suddenly disappeared, only to reappear shortly afterward, only to disappear again, as if she were flickering along with the lights.

I could already feel the malice spreading from them.

I've had this feeling that something is coming to kill me so many times I've lost count.

He lowered his head, looking at the rescue team badge on his chest. At this moment, the only rescuer he could use was Howard. Old Guo, still on cooldown after being attacked at the start, couldn't be summoned immediately. Hirano Sosuke had been sent out to compensate for the shortage of personnel in the Xiongmi Squad and was currently dealing with those fanatical players, unable to return in time. In other words, he currently had no way to fight this illusory entity. If the initial probing attempt didn't go well, he would likely have no choice but to run away again.

However, as long as we distract this thing, Kaguya should be able to continue her exploration smoothly.